Bromance

Bromance (Diptych)

THE BINARY SHOW Series

DRAWINg

The Classic tradition of Greek and Roman Art continues to this day to influence how we perceive and value the male body. In these Ancient civilisations the male body was deified in these societies becoming the personification of beauty and the physical embodiment of strength, masculinity and virility. Visual media continually rehashes and reproduces these idealised images and regurgitates them for new audiences.

“I, Full Sleeve” is a large scale drawing of a muscular, male arm, Herculanean in scale and convered in tatoos drawn with meticulous detail. Disconnected from a body, yet vital and alive it indicates the increasing objectification of the male body in society and a distancing of the physical from the emotional and indiviual.

The perfect body has become an archetype to achieve, as by obtaining it, the hypermasculie attributes of manliness, virility, strength and power can be achieved. These idealised images of what it is to be a real man are never far away. Media constantly and persistently rehashes these images of male beauty and what masculinity means.

As such the drawing “I, Full Sleeve” encourages the examination of our relationship to masculinity and to question the heteronormative and patriachal society that values and promotes these images as signs to be emulated.

The charcoal drawings “Bromance” and “Hands” reflect upon a burgeoning need for emotional connection and bonding between men and increased acceptance of non traditional male friendships. These images hopefully indicate the potential for men to change, to open up, to empathise and to feel.